Picking up the car in Vienna was a new experience. Our rental papers said we had to pick the car up from Avis at one of the train stations in Vienna. We hopped in a Mercedes-Benz cab whose driver made me glad I was riding in the safety of Mercedes-Benz (she didn't speed - she just wasn't focused) and not in one of the smaller cabs that were running around town. After we get to the train station and spend about 40 minutes looking all over the station and near-by buildings for Avis. We asked several people and no one knew where Avis was. We finally asked a travel agent and found out that Avis did not have an office there: the station was just a place for Avis to drop off the car for the renter! We called Avis who told us they were waiting with our car at their office across from the Opera house. So back to downtown we went.

Salzburg, Austria
Herbie the Love Bug lives!

The hotel's staff was one of the friendliest and most helpful we have come across. They gave us our keys and a pass so we could park on the street next to the building or in the hotel's small lot if there was room. We were also given a paper that contained a list and description of restaurants that they recommended in the old city plus a map of the old city showing where all restaurants were. They also gave us some information on things to do, tours and concerts. We tried one of their restaurants and enjoyed the food and the restaurant (just like the staff at the Hotel Mozart, the staff of the Zum Morhen were very friendly and helpful). One thing I would have liked to have done if we would have had more time and if the weather had been just a little better would have been to rent one of the hotel's bicycles - next time! We had some rain while we were there (no hard rain, though) but the weather was perfect for walking around. Even though we were on the other side of the Salzach, the walk to the old town was short and very pleasant. Most of the time you are walking on pedestrian streets which are lined with small shops and limited to motorized vehicles (usually just taxis and some delivery vehicles). We also opted to get dressed up (not really necessary but I would not recommend showing up with shorts and a Hawaiian shirt - better yet, leave the Hawaiian shirt at home) and made the 15 minute walk from our hotel to the fortress overlooking the city for dinner and a concert - very nice, I would recommend this (for my pilot friends, sit by one of the windows on the west side so you can watch the planes take off and land at the airport that is a few miles to the west).

We spent a lot of time walking around the old town but we also took some day trips from Salzburg. We considered taking the Sound of Music tour but we decided to drive it ourselves. If you have a road map with you and if you get some of the tour literature, you can do your trip on your own. For us, it was not a question of money but leisure. We sometimes take tours to get an idea where everything is and to get an over view of the sights a city may have to offer. We see something that catches our attention and if we want to spend more time there, we come back on our own. But in this case, most of the tour was outside of the city and took most of the day. About the only thing in Salzburg was the Mirabell and we could walk there in five minutes and see it on our own (which we did). If you enjoy driving, do the tour on your own. I have never watched The Sound of Music (it's a musical after all - guys know what I mean) but those that have enjoyed seeing the towns and sights. I liked the little towns, too, but enjoyed the roads even more.

Even after seeing the Mirabell and doing The Sound of Music tour we still had time to visit Hellbrun castle. If you have kids, be sure to take them to Hellbrun but don't tell them they will be getting wet! When you tour Hellbrun, you tour it as a group - something we did not know. In our case, we had a group of school kids with us that made the tour even more fun. I won't say more about it or I'll spoil the fun for you.

Grossglockner-
Hochalpensrtasse, Austria
As we started our descent, we came across a parked Z1. We stopped to check out the view and to get a closer view of the Z1. We talked to the owners who were just finishing up their lunch. The top was down and the doors were down. I was told the doors could be kept down while cruising but at 60kph the wind noise and buffeting was too much. The photos at the very top give you an idea of how steep and twisty the Grossglockner really is.

If you enjoy driving, make sure you take a drive on this road. This road is actually part of a national park. It runs from Fusch to Heiligenblut. It is a twisty and steep mountain road that will take you up the Alps, to an altitude of about 2600meters at the top. If you have trouble breathing at altitudes (like one carbureted Mercedes-Benz did) you may not appreciate this road. Even with our constant stops to check out the views (and there are many), it was not long before we were surrounded by snow. But don't worry about being able to drive in the snow - the roads are kept clean of snow (but there's plenty along the sides in May to make a snowman or for a good snowball fight). Also, since this is a national park, there are lots of places to pull over to enjoy the many views or for a picnic. If you didn't bring your lunch, don't worry, there's a restaurant where you can sit down and enjoy a nice warm meal and some yodeling.

As we drove up this road, we rarely went past 60kph or out of third gear. Part of the reason we didn't race through this road is because the road is pretty steep and winding. You also share this road with cyclist (yes, there are people crazy enough to cycle up this road) and you have to watch out for people pulling out of scenic overlooks or stopping for the scenic overlooks. Plus, you have to drive slower to enjoy the scenery. Even though you are surrounded by snow, the temperature is still very comfortable - you may need a light jacket but, for me anyway, a long-sleeve shirt was sufficient. Expect to find lots of motorcyclists and convertibles on this road.

We continued our drive to St. Moritz but we changed our plans of driving all the back roads because we started to run into traffic. Either way, our drive would take us to Italy to get to St. Moritz. One thing that worried us after we got on the Autostrada was that we didn't have any Liras to pay the toll but, it turns out that the toll booth took Austrian Shillings and a few other currencies.

Our first few miles of driving in Switzerland helped me understand why Euli and Res of the Swiss Garage are so comfortable working on Audis: Audi appeared to be the car of choice! While making our drive to St. Moritz, we came across some of the craziest drivers we have encountered in Europe. In one instance, we had started to get a light rain as we made our way up a steep, winding, narrow road. I look in my rear-view mirror and see a small Toyota wagon coming up fast. As I am driving up this road I am thinking of several things: the slick road, the possibilities of uncoming traffic being in my lane just around the corner, cyclists or rocks in my lane just around the corner. But this Toyota was ready to pass so I made sure I made it easy for him. Actually, he passed when I least expected it and as he passed me, I eased off the gas because I was now expecting his tail to come around. I noticed his Toyota had four-wheel drive which explained how he managed to keep the car going in the proper direction even though the car's body was leaning heavily.

The Glacier Express, Switzerland

Riding the Glacier Express you get to see a lot of small towns as you make your way up and down mountains. What struck me the most was not so much the scenery but seeing so many people out enjoying themselves. You almost wonder if they have televisions! Everyone seemed to be out enjoying some outdoor activity like playing soccer, hang gliding, sky diving (off of mountains, from the looks of it), cycling, hiking and riding their motorcycles!

Even though we were in the land known for precision, everything did not go like clock-work on the Glacier Express. As I already mentioned, there was a mix up with our reservations. There was also a mix up with our lunch reservations so I made new reservations. Shortly after we had left St. Moritz, the conductor came by to tell us that there was a problem: there was no dining car and if we wanted lunch, we would have to get off the train in Reichenau and wait for the next train that would have a dining car. We really did not want to wait so we decided to get our money back and get something from the mini-bar. Well, we pull into Reichenau and as we are looking out the window, we noticed that we have been disconnected from the rest of the train! Later, another train pulls up and we are connected to it. Of course this train has a dining car but now we don't have reservations! By two 2PM we are starving and rather than continuing to Zermatt we decide to get off in Brig and head for Geneva (the 8 series capital of the world, it seems). If we would have continued to Zermatt, we would have back-tracked to Brig and that would have put us in Geneva at 10PM. I loved the Glacier Express but I was hungry!